


Departure

by thatonewriterchick



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Afterlife, Canonical Character Death, Limbo, M/M, Recovered Memories, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 18:50:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16393199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatonewriterchick/pseuds/thatonewriterchick
Summary: The trigger was pulled, but Cayde's journey is far from over.





	Departure

**Author's Note:**

> I’m really bummed, guys. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed Cayde until he was being blasted away. I spent quite a while grasping at straws for closure. Ed Sheeran’s Castle on the Hill was what I played on repeat (literally for hours) while I researched and wrote this. It feels happy and yet wistful and nostalgic. Which, is kind of what I wanted to go for, for the overall feeling, I suppose. Anyways…here’s to Cayde. The Destiny world got a little darker (and quieter) without you.

__

Cayde-6 knew he was dead when he went from falling back to standing upright in a blink. One moment, he was standing in the rubbles of the Prison of Elders, his systems compiling a list of all the things going wrong. With his frame. There was plenty going on around him that his diagnostics were not relaying, of course. The next, he was standing in a vast nothingness. He took a step forward, his gaze drawn to the light peeking out from beneath his boot. He lifted his foot and watched the light gradually fade, leaving him in the vast nothingness again.

“Deuce?” He asked the darkness. The word did not bounce so much as become absorbed by the emptiness. His ghost did not reply, did not appear in her usual flourish of Light. And then he remembered the blast shortly after she had called his name.

“You’re here.” The voice behind him made him turn and take a step back. It was not his ghost that had spoken, but a woman.

For a moment, he thought it was Amanda, as she had blond hair and blue eyes. But she did not have the accent and at closer inspection, he saw her clothes were dated.

“Do I…” He cocked his head. “I’m sorry, where…?”

“You used to know me,” she said with a small, wistful smile. Cocking her head, she said, “Walk with me.” She did not wait for him, turning on her heel and leaving lighted footsteps in her wake.

Cayde fell into step with her after a moment, looking around them and then at her. “Where are we going? Because I ah…I hate to be the one to break it to you, but…” He glanced around. “There’s nothing here.”

“There’s always a path. Even when it can’t be seen.”

It was such a Warlock-y answer, but something told him this woman had never been a Guardian. “I’ve gotta know,” he said, once again catching up to her. “Am I dead? Like…the real kind?”

“Death is relative,” she answered, her lips quirking up into a smile that bordered on amusement. Something about it tugged at the fringes of his memory, but she pointed ahead into the emptiness. “That’s where you need to go.”

“Well, am I relatively dead?” He asked, staring in the way she pointed. When she did not answer, he looked to her.

The abyss stared back.

 

“No more gambling.” The voice made him start, mostly because it was his own, though he had not spoken. It was stern and chiding but also tired.

A human version of himself emerged through him, human with a boy on his shoulders. They walked along, leaving no lit prints in their wake. Cayde followed along, waving a hand in front of the other man’s face. His other self did not react as he continued on.

“They wouldn’t have caught me if you had taught me how you win,” the boy protested, frowning down at his father.

“Your mother would kill me.” Hoisting the kid from his shoulders to set him on his feet, incorporeal Cayde knelt to his level. In his mind’s eye, the guardian saw the woman who had directed him and knew suddenly that had been Ace’s mother. His wife. _Allie._

 _Ace_ , Cayde realized, drinking in the sight of his son. He had his mother’s sharp blue gaze, but his father’s own devilish smile. “Only if she found out,” the boy pointed out, flashing a sly grin.

Both Caydes chuckled at this, but only the father version of him said, “Didn’t I tell you? Your mom’s psychic.” When Ace stared at him, unimpressed and disbelieving, Cayde added, “How about…I teach you the card trick. _If,”_ he added quickly as boy began to smile again. “And only if this stays between us. And!” He held up a finger as Ace began to open his mouth. “You pass your classes. All of ‘em, Ace. And Inferior marks don’t count. We both know that’s barely passing.”

“Deal!” Ace thrust his hand into his father’s face for a shake, beaming.

The pair faded into the abyss, shaking hands and smiling at one another.

 

“All of the debt, right?”

Cayde followed his solemn tones a few feet ahead.

The image shimmered into existence, a clean white room with a clinical table. He was stretched over it, a thick, opaque plastic tube arching over his body from the chest down. Wires and tubes were attached to his temples and chest.

The white coated tech nodded, tapping away at the holoscreen in front of her. “All of it.”

“Even if this doesn’t work, right?”

Her bored gaze flitted to where he lay on the table. “You did read the contract before you agreed, right?”

“I mean, yeah, but…” He trailed off on a sigh as she turned her attention back to the screen in front of her. “Just seems too easy.” The last part he muttered, almost to himself.

“Keep it in mind,” she said as she stood.

“Sorry?” He turned his head as much as the equipment would allow.

The woman didn’t look at him as she checked the holoscreen and the cables that streamed from it to him. “Why you’re doing this.” She tapped on the screen a couple seconds more. “Helps keep more of you…intact.”

The image faded as he fell asleep on the table for the last time in his human body.

 

“Time to go.” Cayde could hear the change in his voice and knew he was in his Exo body. By the time he was close, the image was already formed, flames eating up what used to be his house.

Ace, much older, emerged from the back of the house, stopping short at the sight of Cayde. As he began to choke on the smoke, Cayde took his unconscious ex-wife’s limp form from his son. “Dad?” He asked, even as he was pushed ahead of the Exo.

“No time,” he shouted, urging the teenager out. “We have to get you to the evac station.”

“Is she-“

“She’ll be fine if we get you off the planet in time.”

“What?!” Ace was still coughing as he caught sight of the sparrows waiting outside.

“Evac. Now!” Cayde was already fastening Allie to the second with a makeshift tie. “They’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”

“What’s going on?” Ace asked, sputtering on smoke.

“I don’t know.”

The guardian Cayde watched in horrified fascination, easily able to put to terms what he had felt. His former self watched the few ships available push toward space. The past version of himself had no idea what that strange sense of pressure and nausea was and the past him rubbed at his chest unconsciously.

Unaware that the Darkness was arriving to the planet.

The image of himself, staring skyward faded.

 

“All this time and you still look like a Dreg’s asshole.”

“And I still look better than your wife,” Cayde answered, the response coming with ease as it always had. He turned, still not believing the sight that greeted him, in spite of it all.

Tevis was smirking at him, his hood drawn away from his rugged features.

“You owe me a lot of glimmer,” Cayde said after a pause.

The other hunter barked a laugh as he walked past him. “You mean you cheated me out of a lot of glimmer.”

“You always were a sore loser.” Cayde’s gaze trailed after the lit boot steps Tevis left in his wake. “Hey.” He grabbed the Nightstalker by the forearm to stop him. “Where are we?”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” Tevis cocked his head. “Fallen got you, huh? Cowards. You shoulda been more careful, though.”

“Eh, you know how it is.” Cayde eyed his friend with a frown. “Have you…seen anyone else out here?”

Tevis’ smirk was back, knowing. “Only seen your ugly mug.  Sorry to disappoint.” He shrugged. “But I also only came to take you where you need to go, so there’s that.”

Sweeping an arm to indicate the vast emptiness, Cayde glanced around to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. “Take me where, exactly?” When he looked back to Tevis and the hunter was gone, he growled. “Dammit! How did I become the reliable one in this relationship?”

 

“You look terrible,” Deuce said, encompassing him in a net of pale blue light.

“Says the one who got blasted to pieces,” he countered, eyeing her shell. It was white rather than the Vanguard colors he’d last seen her in. He would have questioned, but considering he had been having an off day himself, he decided to give her a break. “Where are we?” He raised a hand to stop her from speaking. “Even better, can we leave?”

She did not respond, her spines separating to allow the Light to flow free. Cayde did not feel the usual burst of warmth it brought and he frowned in confusion. “I think you’re losing your touch. And your hearing.”

“Definitely should not have eaten before bed.”

The guardian cursed again as an Exo version of himself stumbled through him only to stop and brace his hands on his thighs.

“I’m sure that’s just the feeling of coming back from the dead,” Deuce told him, dipping to make eye contact. “Greetings.”

Exo Cayde glanced up once, then did a double take. “I don’t mean to be rude, but…what the hell are you?”

“I’m a Ghost,” Deuce said with a twisting flourish of her spines. “Actually…I’m _your_ Ghost.”

“Huh.” The Exo stood straight. “Funny how that didn’t answer the question at all.” He looked around. “So…uh…Ghost. Is this the afterlife?”

Deuce chuckled. “No, Cayde-4. This is just the beginning.”

“Cayde,” he corrected, stepping past the Ghost. “The number seems so…impersonal.” He walked away, fading into the darkness.

“Very well,” Deuce said, trailing after him. “Cayde.”

 

Standing in the darkness alone again, Cayde sadness welled up for the loss of his Ghost. It had been careless to summon her there in the open, but she’d had so little Light left and he’d had so little cover. He did not sense her in this place, wherever it was.

“I’m sorry, Deuce...wherever you are.”

There was no answer.

  
Time passed, but it was impossible to know how much as he wandered in the darkness. Minutes? Decades? Eons?

He wasn’t sure how to feel when his diagnostics began to run, giving him a whole lot of errors. Did that mean he was headed in the right direction? Cayde was afraid to ask as he continued on.

“The whole point of getting you to take the Dare was to keep you safe. Leave it to you to screw it up.”

Cayde’s breath hitched at the soft timber that he hadn’t heard in centuries. He was almost afraid to turn, to find nothing but more of the darkness he had been wandering through. “Well…” He choked out. “You know me. Can’t sit still.” He was trying for nonchalance, even as he trembled.

Andal appeared in his peripheral first, turning Cayde with a gentle hand on his shoulder. Once they were facing one another, he smiled, eyes crinkling at the corners. “Honestly, I’m surprised you lasted as long as you did.” He reached up and ran the backs of his fingers over Cayde’s plated cheek. “I missed you.”

“Feeling’s mutual,” Cayde breathed and he reveled in the man’s touch, a touch he was sure he’d never feel again.

“My cloak looks good on you,” Andal mused, reaching up to push it from Cayde’s head.

“Looks better on you,” Cayde admitted as the material pooled at the base of his skull. “It was...all they brought back.”

Andal nodded in understanding, but didn’t speak for a moment. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the tip of Cayde’s horn. “Sorry for breaking my promise.”

“Eh…” Cayde tried to shrug. To pretend like he hadn’t fallen to pieces after the survivors had brought back nothing but Andal’s tattered cloak and final words. “You’ve always been a liar. For some reason, I find it oddly charming.”

With a laugh, Andal slipped his hand into Cayde’s. “I never lied to you,” he reminded the other.

“That I know of.” Cayde’s gaze dropped to their boots, to the light beneath them. “Taniks is dead.”

“Good.” Andal shrugged. “Needed to be done.”

“Wish I could have been the one to do it,” Cayde confessed.

“I’m glad you didn’t. Taniks’ death didn’t bring me back. He would have played on your arrogance anyway.”

Cayde scoffed. “I have a well-balanced skill to ego ratio.”

Andal snorted and raised a disbelieving brow. “Is that what you think?”

“That is what I _know_ , Andal.”

That pale gaze was filled with emotion, even as he brushed a kiss to Cayde’s mouth. Like always, Cayde’s diagnostics began to march up the side of his optics feed, letting him know that his vitals were rising despite being at rest. “You’re something else,” Andal decided.

“I wish I had been there with you,” Cayde breathed against Andal’s mouth. “I should have been there.” Andal’s arms wrapped around him, drawing them flush together.

“With everything in me, I’m so glad you weren’t,” Andal murmured. “We both would have died that day.”

Some part of Cayde wished he could say that that’s what he wanted. But he couldn’t; couldn’t regret meeting Ikora and Zavala. Bonding with them, loving them. Losing the Dare - living - had brought them all together. Even when they had ended their romantic relationship, he had still loved them, still considered them his best friends.

So he wrapped his arms around Andal instead, squeezing him until the other man grunted. “Well...I suspect I’m relatively dead now...so what next?”

Andal chuckled and the sound was like hearing a song Cayde loved, but hadn’t heard in forever. It washed over him, making his chest tight. “Now...we do what we do best,” he said, easing back to smile at Cayde.

“Oh...well...it’s been a while for me, so I’m gonna need you to really...” Cayde trailed off as Andal laughed again. “Wait...are we not talking about reunion sex?”

“While I love your enthusiasm,” Andal said, eyes sparkling. “No.” He cupped Cayde’s cheek. “But for old time’s sake...I think I’ll be able to pencil you in.”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Cayde blinked as Andal stepped back, revealing a rectangle of light that cut through the emptiness around them. It was stunning, so bright it was almost hard to look at. “Wow...is that…?”

“It is.” Andal squeezed Cayde’s hand and tugged him toward it. “Are you ready?”

Cayde barked a nervous laugh. “Is anyone really ever ready to die?”

“To hunt,” Andal corrected with a smirk. He pressed something cool and weighted into Cayde’s hand.

His fingers closed around the grip out of habit and Cayde knew what he was holding before he looked down at it. The white spade painted on the barrel of his gun stared up at him.

“Oh good,” Tevis said, his head and torso emerging from the light. “You aren’t screwing.”

“Not yet,” Andal called back, not looking away from Cayde. “But definitely later.”

“I didn’t need to know that,” Tevis assured him. “I need to know if you’re coming sometime this century.”

Andal and Cayde shared a loaded glance. “Well…” They drew out the syllable in unison.

Tevis sighed as he rolled his eyes, resigned. “Come on, lovebirds.” He retreated to the other side.

Together they moved to stand in front of the light. Cayde couldn’t see what lay on the other side of the brilliance.

“Cayde?”

“Yeah.” His grip tightened on his hand cannon. “I’m ready.”

Together, he and Andal walked into the light.

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman (it was great) and I have to admit that I think I was influenced just a little as I wrote this (probably a lot, actually). I did a bit research on lore surrounding our roguish hunter; while this piece is filled in with my own fictions, such as his ghost’s name, details about his wife and the Exo creation process (it’s pretty vague in D2, even with the little hints on Mars), other things are canon.
> 
> A couple of Youtubers saved me a bunch of time by compiling Cayde-6 lore. Those wonderful pair are My Name is Byf and Myelin Games, so thanks to them and I would recommend checking them out for nicely put together Destiny lore. Also, many thanks to okEmmOrWhatever for reading this ahead of time and giving their feedback. As always, I hope you enjoyed! Definitely feel free to leave comments, but if you don’t, thanks for reading, regardless!


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